Elevators: we walk up, press the call button, and wait for what feels like an eternity for the *ding* signifying our ride has arrived. Soon a stranger joins us in waiting for our vertical transport, and we both silently look down, up, anywhere to avoid eye contact with each other. If our eyes happen to meet, an awkward smile ensues followed by more silence, or at most, a quip about how long these things take. But what if this short moment with a stranger could be so much more? What if, unbeknownst to us, this is the most important moment of our lives?

Two years ago on a rainy evening in Pittsburgh, a girl from Texas named Jordyn found herself waiting for an elevator at her hotel. Soon a guy from Chicago named Steven joined her in waiting for the dumb-waiter. They made eye contact, smiled, but Steven didn’t waste his time with a quip about elevator speed. He recognized this as a moment that could change their lives and he took it. That chance meeting at an elevator led to three hours together the next day in the hotel lobby. Three weeks later, Steven was on a flight to Texas to meet her family, and nearly every weekend after one of them was flying to Chicago or Houston to visit the other.

Romance barely begins to describe these two…

After a year of flights, Jordyn and Steven found themselves on the beach in Pensacola, Florida. As the Sun set on the horizon and the waves lapped on the shore, Steven fished a ring box out of his (according to Jordyn) too tight jeans, dropped to a knee, and proposed. That moment, and for that matter their entire wedding, would have never been possible without an earlier moment involving an elevator and a choice to talk to a stranger. I know for a fact that both Jordyn and Steven will never look at an elevator the same way again.

Remember your first love in high school? I had one of those. And by “had”, I mean that I was the one in love; I don’t believe that the object of my affections actually knew I was in love with her. But thankfully this film isn’t about my high school romance, it’s about Will and Stephanie’s.

At this point though, you’re probably wondering what fairy tales have to do with high school. See, one of the oldest types of fairy tales is that of a couple, one of whom is usually a prince or princess of some sort, that meet, fall in love, and live happily ever after. While most prevalent in Disney movies like Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, and Snow White, there are many modern takes on the tale such as Enchanted and even Spider-Man. They all differ in how they tell it, but at the core they all revolve around a boy and girl meeting, falling in love despite all obstacles, and living happily ever after together.

What a modern fairy tale looks like, in case you were wondering.

As viewers, we identify with many aspects of these stories in our own lives (okay maybe not living under the sea or being bitten by a radioactive spider), we all remember one of our first experiences of love in high school. We envision meeting that perfect someone in class, falling in love, sticking together through college, getting married, and living happily ever after. That vision has become a modern fairy tale, one that we dream about when we are young and realize isn’t true when we walk the stage at graduation.

For me and most of us, I feel like that was okay. I don’t think many of us think back on high school with regret of never finding love. But what if we had? What if we met someone in class our junior year of high school, sixteen years old, daring to dream it could last forever, and it actually did? We would be living a modern fairy tale.

What I have just described is the story of Will and Stephanie. Sixteen years old, finding chemistry with each other in chemistry class of all places, and falling in love that lasts. These two give me hope, not that I will go back to high school and fall in love, I’m quite happy with my current love that I found in college; a hope that fairy tales come true even today. There’s something a bit magical about that, and I am glad that stories like theirs still exist in the world today.

The morning weather was brutal, think sweating through your shirt at 10am humid; but wedding days with couples like this are what I dream about. See, the weather in Beaumont is still Texas weather, and by noon it changed its mind, cooled off, and became lovely for a wedding. Oh, and in case you haven’t watched the film above, these two are ridiculously, head over heels in love which always makes for fun filming. Also, Hannah loves the color pink. Heck, I love the color pink! I love bright wedding colors and couples in love!

Now that the obvious things are out of the way, let me tell you some things about Hannah and Steven that are a little less apparent at first glance. They first met in April 2013, but Hannah made the first move when she added Steven on Facebook in August. Taking the initiative from her forwardness, he invited her to go dancing to which of course she said yes.

Since then, they haven’t gone two days without seeing each other; and one year from their first date they were married at The Church On The Rock in Beaumont, Texas. Sound fast? To some it may seem quick, but if you spend 5 minutes with them it becomes obvious they are the perfect fit for one another.

So Stephen with his hot pink tie, and Hannah with her non-pink dress, found themselves getting hitched by a minister with a passing resemblance to Timothy Dalton; while I found myself filming the nuptials. Did I mention I love filming weddings like this?

It is a big help to me when you use any of the above product links to Adorama, Amazon, and B&H and when you get anything. It costs you nothing, and helps me keep my site running. I have bought from all of these websites and I highly recommend them for their service, quality, and shipping speed. I recommend them all personally.

These two aren’t your traditional couple. Craig is in banking, and Julie works on oil rigs (yes, big oil derricks out in the country!). They are also people after my own heart that love traveling around and eating at new restaurants. Their wedding was a total blast to film, and everything from the hotel room to the golf course was beautiful. And whoa they can dance! I’ve never seen a dance floor packed for that long at a wedding! Julie was dancing for about four straight hours. I think my favorite part though, was the toast that Craig’s brother gave during the reception. He reminisced about watching as Craig got to know Julie, how they spent time together, and how they fell in love. He ended it with saying how Craig had found his new best friend and how happy he was for him. It’s shared moments like this toast that make me happy to film weddings.

It is a big help to me when you use any of the above product links to Adorama, Amazon, and B&H and when you get anything. It costs you nothing, and helps me keep my site running. I have bought from all of these websites and I highly recommend them for their service, quality, and shipping speed. I recommend them all personally.

Some of my best friendships have come from couples whose weddings I have filmed. We will often sit down over tacos and talk about their lives, their love, and how I can best show that through a film about their wedding day. I have been blessed to film some of the nicest, most outgoing, and unique couples, just by being myself and showing them what I can create for them.

With Thuy and Brady though, we didn’t have time to sit down and talk before their wedding. See, on January 30th, I got a call from Brady’s sister explaining that a family member had been hurt and because they were unable to make it to the wedding, they wanted a wedding film they could share. Also – and this was the critical part – the wedding was Saturday, February first, meaning I had two days to prepare.

I could tell from the very beginning though, even after only hearing Brady’s sister speak about them, that they were going to be some of the coolest people to film. So I called Brady and we talked all about how he and Thuy met, their love for music, and the cool surprises they had planned for the guests at their wedding. It was going to give an elegant country vibe, and because Thuy is Vietnamese, they changed outfits into traditional Vietnamese attire. Then they danced around and passed out lottery tickets to their guests while traditional Vietnamese music played. This was all so inventive and fun, and it really made the wedding fun to shoot.

The entire day was very windy, but we still had time to get some fun quadcopter shots of the venue. Between that and great cloud timelapses, this was a fun and dynamic wedding film to edit. Special thanks to Taylor Stanley for being available very last minute to help film.

It is a big help to me when you use any of the above product links to Adorama, Amazon, and B&H and when you get anything. It costs you nothing, and helps me keep my site running. I have bought from all of these websites and I highly recommend them for their service, quality, and shipping speed. I recommend them all personally.